Tomlin vs. Jacksonville media

October 12, 2011by trib

Mike Tomlin’s conference call with the Jacksonville media got a little tense today and didn’t end with friendly farewells.
The last question, as seen at the end of the transcript, was asked by Tomlin, and he hung up a couple of seconds later. Here is the full transcript:

Talk about how your team has had to change things up a little bit in trying different things to win this year
“First of all, this is still a very early portion of the season and we’re trying to find ourselves like everyone else, and you’d better win games along the way. That’s simply our process. We don’t go into any season holding on to any personality traits. We build it from ground zero every year with the understanding that we’re trying to be a good football team. We want to play to our strengths and try to minimize our weaknesses. So we’re a work in progress, no doubt, and we’ll just continue to walk the journey. And like I said earlier, we’d better to find ways to win along the way.”

On Ben Roethlisberger’s play so far this season
“Ben is very consistent. He’s a competitor. He realized, of course, the gravity of last week’s game. It’s always important that you bounce back from the type of performance that we had in Houston. He’s always kind of delivered those kinds of timely performances for us.”

On your run defense against Maurice Jones-Drew
“Jones-Drew, of course, is a spectacular player. We’re going to have our hands full there trying to slow him down. We respect him for what he’s capable of and we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

What’s been the problem with the run defense?
“We’ve given up some big runs.”

Why?
“A myriad of reasons. There are usually reasons why people give up runs. People are not where they’re supposed to be or they’re getting physically whipped and/or both, and I think such has been the case with us. We don’t run away from that. We’re working hard on a daily basis trying to right those things.”

Is the age of your defense a concern for you?
“No.”

Why not?
“It just isn’t. We’re very comfortable where we are from a personnel standpoint not only with our starters but with our backups. We believe we’ve got good quality depth. I think they’ll be given plenty of opportunities to prove that.”

This is Jacksonville’s first game up in Pittsburgh since the 2008 playoff game. Any memories of that playoff game?
“Not really. I remember David Garrard of course on the draw on fourth down. That’s one of those plays that you’ll never forget. It was a big play.”

Did you send tape of that play to league office?
“No.”

Why not?
“Why would I?”

Wasn’t there a questionable non-call holding on that play?
“Guys, come on man. I’m not going to cry over four-year-old spilt milk. Anybody got any legitimate questions?”

It was a big game from Jacksonville’s standpoint
“Guys, that was four years ago. I understand that might have been a big game in Jacksonville four years ago but that’s old news. Many of those guys are no longer here and definitely many of the guys that were in Jacksonville are no longer there. Anybody got any questions relative to this week?”